Never Again
by broken-inside-x
Summary: Chad Dylan Cooper doesn't do favors.
1. Chapter 1

"Never again Munroe! Never!"

Chad Dylan Cooper was Hollywood's resident bad boy. He was without a doubt the best actor of his generation, according to himself. Doing favours for Chuckle City actresses was not a part of his act.

"Sorry, did you say something?"

The young man in front of Chad was tall and gangly. Mousy brown hair obscured his eyes and freckles dotted his pasty skin. He had instantly wiped his feet on the doormat as Chad had let him into Sonny's apartment, looking down as he did to unsuccessfully hide the curiosity that lurked in the shallow depths of his bright eyes, a look Chad had grown used to recognising in the past few months. He's led the way muttering to himself which is when the ears that stuck out of the boys head had picked up the last sentence he had muttered to himself.

"Yeah. Is said Sonny will be out in a minute. She likes to take her time putting all that useless make-up on."

He refused to waste time being nice. He watched the boy (he also refused to admit this was a grown man and that Sonny was a grown woman) take a seat in the couch opposite him, instantly disliking him even more for reasons unknown.

"So…your good friends with Alison then erm… Mr Cooper?"

The man (whatever his name was, something like Ryan but who knew, its not like Chad had ever paid attention to anyone's name but his own three) stuttered under Chad's harsh stare as he leaned forward to rest his chin on his palm. His stare turned cold at the mention of Mr Cooper. Did he look like an old man? He was only 21 for goodness sakes. And who actually used Sonny's full name? He hadn't heard anyone use it since her mother had added it to the verbal onslaught that Sonny had received after slacking in college whilst filming.

"Ok, listen here. I'm Sonny's best friend and I don't like the look of you. I want you out of our apartment and I want you out now."

Why waste time on explaining when he could just cut this short and get it over with.

With wide eyes Sonny's date rose shakily from the chair, staring at Chad in shock as if he was expecting him to pounce on him form the opposite side of the room. Slowly turning towards the door he shouted towards Sonny's bedroom door

"Sonny erm…something's come up. I have to leave. Erm…now"

He turned and fled at full speed, only stopping to fumble with the lock and chain on the door. The door shut noiselessly behind him and footsteps echoed on the wooden stairs that led down to the ground floor of the apartment block.

"Coast's clear Munroe. Took me 5 minutes at the max. You owe me."

He watched as Sonny exited her bedroom, in jeans and an oversized hoodie she didn't look ready for a date at all. Of course she hadn't planned on going since she had rang Chad earlier in the evening to say she needed his help again.

"So what was wrong with this one? Was he too tall? Too chatty? Too wide eyed Bambi looking?"

"Weird looking nose"

Those three words sent Chad into a fit of laughter. He gasped for breath only to continue laughing, blonde hair fell over his eyes, combined with the tears that were gathering in his blue eyes, he was nearly blind. Once he had regulated his breathing and returned his heart rate to normal he managed to stutter

"His nose? You had me dragged half way across the city to play the overprotective best friend because your date for the night had a funny looking nose? You really have lost in Munroe. This is the5th time in the last fortnight that you've had me do this for you. CDC doesn't do favours for just anyone you know."

She sauntered past him to put the kettle on, smiling as she did.

"Good to know that you think I'm special enough then Chad"

"That's…no not what…forget it" he flustered, finally looking down to cover the blush that had covered his high cheekbones. "Never again Munroe!"


	2. Chapter 2

"Morning Chad"

It was 5 o'clock in the morning and the persistent knocking on Sonny's door could belong to only one conceited actor. Chad Dylan Cooper. He was already babbling in incoherent sentences before she had even let him in the door.

Dragging her bare feet across the wooden floor of her apartment, she sleepily made her way towards the kitchen adjoined to the living room to make a very strong, much needed coffee. With the kettle boiling and a large dose of caffeine on its way she turned around to lean against her kitchen worktop and stare at Chad who was running his hands through his already tousled blonde hair and still ranting in incomplete sentences. Deciding to give him a minute or two to return to the English language, she pulled the elastic out of her tangled dark hair, letting it tumble over her shoulders in curls.

"Your hair looks nice like that. Ahh…not the point! She cancelled. She actually had the nerve to cancel a date with Chad Dylan Cooper! I need her to be there. Do you have an idea how much she needs to be there tomorrow. I mean she had a nerve cancelling the day before. Replacement! I need a replacement date!! She actually cancelled!!"

He had begun waving his arms in the air frantically and pacing the length of her small kitchen,

"Milk? Sugar?" she asked as she returned to making coffee. Chad paused only once to say "none" before continuing his rant. Of course Chad would have his coffee black with no sugar. CDC doesn't do sweet. Sonny, on the other hand, tipped nearly half of the sugar packet into her coffee, arguing with herself that she needed the sugar overload to keep her awake at this ungodly hour of the morning.

After handing him his mug of coffee, she steered him towards the overstuffed chairs in her living room, pausing only to glance out the window at the dark, deserted streets of Hollywood.

After folding her feet underneath her on her chair she turned to really look at Chad since he arrived. He was still in the blue shirt and leather jacket that he'd been wearing when he scared her latest date off yesterday. The creases were all still in the right places showing that he hadn't been to sleep, or mist likely home at all since leaving her apartment yesterday. She recalled him saying he was going off to meet his own date, her name hadn't been remembered as usual. She'd gotten fed up of trying to remember the name of Chad's latest girlfriend, seeing as they tended to change every few days. The purple bags under his eyes only further proved her right.

"Chad, please tell me there's a perfectly good reason you spent 20 minutes banging on my front door only to spend another 10 minutes rambling on about a cancelled date when we both know that you could have another date in 2 minutes flat if you wanted"

"Sonny, this girl was carefully selected to please my mother! At the stupid masquerade party! Which is tomorrow night!"

"Ah…that is a problem."

Chad's mother was highly looked upon for her legendary parties. She was a severe perfectionist who refused to settle for anything less than the best. She expected Chad to show up with a perfect girl as his date for her annual Christmas party tomorrow night, and if his date wasn't up to her standards, well that girl was in for one hell of a long night. And so was he.

"Sonny, you have to help me find a replacement"

His voice was laced with pure horror at the idea of not having a good date to show up with tomorrow night. She was having a hard time thinking of someone who his mother would settle for.

"Portia…I bet she'd love to go with you. Y'know like good old times"

"She has a kid now"

"Really? Oh well… the girl who played Chloe on the Falls?"

"Too tall"

Things continued like this, with Sonny listing names of friends that they both knew and Chad listing reasons against them.

"Amy?"

"Too short"  
"Emily?"  
"English"

"Marianne?"

"Farmers daughter"

"Ashley?"

"Hates me"

"Katie?"

"Eats with her mouth open"

In Sonny's mind it was way to early for this, she was getting slightly frustrated with Chad's small reasons for not liking a girl.

"Tawni! How about her?"

"Yeah I'm sure my mother would be delighted to hear about her Mocco Cocco Mocco lipstick! Face it Sonny, I'm doomed"

For the first time, Chad Dylan Cooper had admitted defeat. To his mother. However, she watched as the spark returned to his eyes and his head lifted up as he eyed her up.

"You owe me for yesterday Munroe. And for last Tuesday. And Monday come to that."

She didn't like where this was going and she definitely didn't like the way he was looking her up and down.

"I'll pick you up at 6!"

Momentarily shocked by his ridiculous idea, she just sat there and stared at him, nearly dropping her half drunken mug of coffee which hadn't provided enough caffeine to prepare her for this amount of stupidity.

"I…you must be kidding me. I mean…your mother will hate me. I'm from a farm too! And I'm…short! Yes, I'm only 5 ft 4. Yep, that's me. Short." She was desperately grasping any reason why his plan wouldn't work. "And I don't have a decent dress! There's no way I'll be able to buy one by tomorrow, I have work! And I don't own a mask either! Not to mention I'm poor too!" she was nearly hysterical now at the thought of meeting Chad's perfectionist mother.

"You owe me! I'll pull some strings and get you the outfit. I'll even pay for it. I really need this favour Munroe. Please?"

"Oh no…not the puppy dog eyes" Sonny cringed away from Chad's big blue eyes, she looked down and began fiddling with the edge of her pyjama top which had begun to fray. She could feel her resolve faltering and knew that he'd get what he wanted eventually. Whether she was willing or not. And she did owe him.

"Fine! But just this once. Never again!"


End file.
